The House of Stonem
by extraordinarynow
Summary: The life of the Stonem family. Hogwarts and Post-Hogwarts. Tobias: eldest sibling, ex-convict, skewered sense of reality. Jason Lucas: golden child, International Quidditch star turned Magical Games and Sports lawyer. Keira Karridee: youngest sibling, French-educated, fearless, and the family's furry little problem.
1. Family Archive: Tobias Biography

Heritage

Tobias' parents are Carridee Stonem (nee Mcnair) and Richard Stonem.

His grandfather is Walden Mcnair, known for being a loyal follower of Lord Voldemort in the First Wizarding War. Little is known about Jay's grandmother, there is no record of her identity and it is likely Walden kept it a secret in order to ensure no harm would come to her while he took up his active position as a Death Eater.  
Following Voldemort's defeat, like many others, Walden claimed he was under the Imperius Curse to avoid going to Azkaban. After his defence was accepted, Mcnair worked for the Ministry of Magic, on the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, a job well suited for his violent and vicious mind. He was set to execute Buckbeak, the Hippogriff owned by Rubeus Hagrid, but it escaped. It was no surprise that upon the Dark Lord's return, Walden re-joined the Death Eaters, after apologising at Voldemort's feet the Dark Lord allowed him to re-join his ranks.  
In addition to this, Walden made an unbreakable vow with Voldemort that a member of his family would always have a place by the Dark Lord's side.

Walden and his wife had two daughters- Carridee and Lucinda, both whom attended Beauxbatons in France. It was clear from the beginning that the youngest sister was his favourite. Carridee was blonde, had a heart of gold, and doted upon her parents.  
Lucinda however looked and acted more like her father. She inherited many of his traits; jet black hair and harsh features. She enjoyed bullying the other students and it was not long into her teenage years before she was begging her father to take her to meet other Death Eaters.  
Eventually Lucinda was introduced to Wilkes, an active Death Eater and friend of Mcnair's. They married and had children who were promptly put up for adoption (notably Brianna Robins, who was adopted by the Robins family.)

Meanwhile Carridee was involved in an arranged marriage, organised by her father. Her husband was not a Death Eater, and it is thought that Walden Mcnair must have had a little compassion to want the best for his favourite daughter. He chose a pure blood Durmstrang graduate, originally from Suffolk. Richard Stonem was a quiet boy, who lived with his parents in a manor house in the countryside. He was introverted, visited home little and preferred the company of his few friends at the infamous Scandinavian boys institute. Once married, Richard and Carridee moved to a hidden manor home in the centre of London and had three children.

Childhood

Tobias was born on May 24th 1990. From the moment he could walk, Tobias displayed symptoms of having magical powers well beyond his years, often dangerously so. Death Eaters frequently visited the London home as a safe house and meeting place, and took an interest in the toddler's obvious intelligence. From an early age they began teaching him spells with their own wands. His father protests that the Death Eaters are not good for Tobias, but Carridee assures him that it was normal in a pureblood family for more attention to be paid to the elder children than usual. He would often practice minor curses on the animals he found around Stonem manor, and once dead he would bring them into the home to show his parents proudly.  
He would show catatonic behaviour, holding rigid poses for hours on end, and spoke mostly to himself in a language made up of gibberish.  
Tobias grows stronger and more of a problem to his mother, who after having to explain to her husband why their oldest house elf had both his legs broken, and begins to feel hopeless in his upbringing.  
He spends time mostly practicing the spells and potions taught to him by the likes of the Carrows, and becomes a favourite of Bellatrix Lestrang, who spots a weapon within Tobias- something she failed with her own nephew, Draco Malfoy.  
Too dangerous for school, and approaching his teens, Tobias took lessons from Death Eaters, becoming highly skilled in wandless and wordless magic, and develops his love for charms. He gains a fascination for potions, which his parents happily fund, believing that it will take his mind off the darker thoughts beginning to fill his head.

After having his father miss his birthday, and having received a letter from the Headmaster of Hogwarts yet again enforcing the importance of an education for the young Master Stonem, Tobias finally cracks. Bitter both from the normal upbringing his parents have denied him, and his father's obvious love for his siblings, Toby poisons 21 local muggles in Camden, resulting in both muggle and magical press releases. Tobias is committed to the high risk wing of St Mungos at age 14.

Tobias is diagnosed as having a disability of the mind which results in a disturbance of his mental functioning. He suffers from a psychosis which is similar to that of a paranoid schizophrenic, though in addition to his unstable mind he has an exceptional flair for charms and dark magic. It is on his record that his violent tendencies stem from witnessing Death Eater activity within his home from an impossibly and brutally young age.

On 20th December 2006, Tobias performs the Imperius curse both windlessly and wordlessly, and escapes the hospital. He performs the curse on 4 staff, who usher him out of the hospital and go to the kitchens to prepare a meal. In the time it took four people to prepare a quick pasta dish and set the table, Tobias had killed 22 muggles in a school some distance away, as well as a guinea pig 'Fudge' – a point which was always particularly emphasized during Tobias' conjunction and one that he finds somewhat humourous.  
Three months later, Tobias- aged 17, is pulled out from under a truck by the Irish Ministry of Magic after sneaking onto a boat from the East coast of England to go to Ireland. It is unknown he killed or hurt on the way as any magic he performed could not be traced due to not owning a wand.

He is immediately sent to Azkaban, where he spends two years suffering halluncinations which cause him to make up intense and real scenarios in his mind which he mistakes for reality. He is only minutely able to differentiate between real life and the colourful illusions he creates to keeps the Dementors away.

Two years later, Albus Dumbledore wins a case which grants Tobias' release from under his complete guidance. Dumbledore is convinced that giving Tobias the upbringing he has always craved will be able to successfully rehabilitate him. The public and press do not agree, and a long legal process and evaluation of Dumbledore's sanity ensues.  
If Tobias hurts, or attempts to endanger any other witch, wizard or creature at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry he will be thrown back into Azkaban for the rest of his life.

Later life

Tobias finds life at Hogwarts pleasant and in time makes one or two friends. He is finally able to bond with his younger brother Jason- who has transferred from Durmstrang to Hogwarts to further his successful quidditch career.  
Though he is not violent, he is as obsessed as ever with dark magic and spends much of his time in the restricted section of the library, reading and improving his knowledge. The lessons are simple for him, but he appreciates being in a classroom and some sense of normality.

After his year at Hogwarts, he worked for a further year as a guidance counsellor. At first, he struggled to differentiate between the students who needed someone to talk to, and those in his presence out of morbid curiosity. His sessions were often supervised and he provided a memory after each meeting, despite this he enjoyed listening to the problems of the students.

Presently Tobias has a part time job in the Ministry for Magic's Archive Department, which satisfies his constant need for magical information. Due to him not being able to leave the country, he is building a relationship with his only sister slowly, who he sees only when she takes holidays from Beauxbatons in France. He frequently supports his brother at quidditch matches and looks forward to becoming an Uncle.


	2. Family Archive: Jason Biography

Heritage and Childhood

For parent and grandparent information refer to the file of Tobias Stonem.

Jason is a pureblood wizard, born to Carridee and Richard Stonem on 11th May 1997. He adored his mother before she died, and was often a source of comfort to her as she felt that she had done a terrible job of raising his older brother. His father always kept his distance from Jay, and focused his attention on the youngest of the three siblings after their mother's death.  
Mostly due to his parents fear of their eldest son, Jason was kept well away from Tobias as a child. As Tobias was institutionalised from a young age, Jason's most prominent childhood memories of his brother are the Christmas' and birthdays spent at St Mungos. Their father had always told Jason that his brother was very jealous of him, though Jason recalls Tobias being nothing but nurturing and kind to him.  
He also has a younger sister, who he is very close to and fiercely protective of. Keira and Jason were the best of friends before Jason was sent to be schooled at The Durmstrang Institute aged 11 after which they drifted apart as Jay became more obsessed with Quidditch.  
Jason adored his mother, before she passed away, and though he was close with his father, after

Education

Jay attended Durmstrang like his father and was placed in the house of Klyk Vampira- or Vampire's Fang.  
It is described that a typical member of the house will be alert, perceptive and quick to grasp any given situation. Members of this house will be analytical, rational and goal oriented. The Klyk Vampira is efficient and self-confident, tacking any challenges thrown at them in an organised and sensible fashion. Driven by ambition, academic excellence is important to the KV house. It is imperative to be successful and a member of this house might be somewhat ruthless in the pursuit of their goals. This does not necessarily imply malicious intent, merely a certain self-serving attitude. The KV boys often prioritise their own welfare over that of others, although overall are social and communicative- it is usually for a purpose. Many of them are well versed in the art of flattery and manipulation and can easily coax others into giving them what they want and need. KV students are fond of experimentation, and have a certain thirst for excitement that can be hard to quell.

Jason enjoyed Durmstrang enormously. He was a popular student, whose Quidditch skills made him good friends with Viktor Krum, with whom he attended the Tri-wizard tournament and travelled to Hogwarts for the competition. He formed an unusually close relationship with Igor Karkaroff, who became his mentor and a more prominent father figure. He favoured Jason and Viktor and did not mind bending the rules for the pair who often snuck out of their dorms to play Quidditch or to go to parties.  
Jay completed his sixth year of education at Durmstrang before transferring to Hogwarts to complete his education in co-ordinance with his acceptance to the English Quidditch Squad. He was again a popular student, persuasive and charming, who made friends easily and was placed into Slytherin House. His status as a Quidditch player elated his confidence, though by no means made him arrogant. He is, on the contrary, very humble and polite.  
At Hogwarts, his studies were not a priority, and while he practiced with the Slytherin Quidditch Team as their beater, he also practiced with all other house teams and a large chunk of his time-table was taken up by Quidditch practices and meets held in London.

Quidditch Career

Jay was constantly encouraged as a child to spend more time on a broom than his feet. He is a natural beater and team player- able to read games easily and utilise his strengths. His friendship with Viktor Krum no doubt played a part in his rise to fame, though he is exceptionally talented on a broom. He trained with Krum many times in and out of school, and was offered a place on the English Quidditch Squad aged 17. His broom is his most prized possession. The modified Comet 370, was a gift from his father upon his acceptance to the England team. The broom is extended to accommodate for Jason's taller than average stature and adjusted on the left-hand side so that it is not uncomfortable when he over-leans on that leg to swing his bat.  
Jason played as a Beater for the English and British International Teams from being 17-29 years old.

Later Life 

Jason married Clara Page, who he was in relationship with during his final year at Hogwarts. Together they have two children, Issac and Isabelle.

Post Quidditch career, Jay worked as deputy head of division in The British and Irish Quidditch League Headquarters, Department of Magical Games and Sports at the Ministry for Magic.  
After three years, he was offered the Head of Division position, earning him a seat on the Wizengamot, and while working at the Ministry, he took great interest in the Hearing and Disciplinary procedures in the Department for Magical Law Enforcement.

At 36, he contacted Cho Chang, an ex-pupil of Hogwarts who he learned had married a muggle individual and become a muggle lawyer. He retired from his position and established his own Magical Law firm, which represents clients in the Wizengamot- something which up until this point had been rarely exercised.  
Stonem and Chang law firm is in Canary Wharf, London and is very successful. It is one of the only Magical Representation firms in the UK. Chang heads the Misuse of Magic department and Jay heads the Magical Games and Sports division- whose clients are largely international Quidditch players who it represents, manages, and often defends in court.


	3. Family Archive Keira Biography

Heritage and Childhood

For parent and grandparent information, refer to the file of Tobias Stonem.

Keira Karridee Stonem was born to Carridee and Richard Stonem on August 19th 1999. Her mother died in childbirth, and she has always been close with her father, who doted on her from the moment she was born.  
Despite missing a mother she never knew, Keira's home life was extremely happy. She was close with her brother Jason, who she spent almost all her time with growing up in Stonem manor, and wanted for nothing.  
Until Keira began school at Beauxbatons Academie in France, her relationship with her eldest brother Tobias was none existent. She never visited him as a patient in St Mungos, always remaining at home with the house elves when her father and Jason visited during the holidays. Despite her protests that she should be able to visit, Richard forbid her from seeing Tobias, and as Jay grew older- he began to agree that it was the right thing to do. The high-risk wing of St Mungos was a place which no child should have to visit.  
She followed her brother's life only through the pages of The Daily Prophet and the Witch Weekly articles- which first condemned him, then slowly began to accept him as he spent more time in Hogwarts and in the public eye with Jason.  
She sent her first letter to Tobias at 11, as he had started working at Hogwarts as their guidance counsellor. It was very simple and contained a photograph of her on her first day at school, and explained that she hoped he would reply. He did, and they exchanged letters always at least 4 times a week. That Christmas she insisted she return home instead of staying at the school, and could finally bond with Tobias.

Education

Keira is educated at Beauxbatons Academie, where she is presently in her sixth year. She was sorted into Ombrelune House upon arrival and is a highly intelligent pupil with a flair for Potions.  
Keira is a very popular pupil, in part due to one brother's reputation as a Quidditch professional, and the other as a murderer. However, she is also lively, funny, and pretty which has added to her popularity within the school.  
Keira often travels away from Beauxbatons to watch the more important of her brother's Quidditch matches, though she is sure this never interferes with her studies. She spends Christmas' at home in Stonem manor with her father and her brother- and in later life enjoys spending time with her niece and nephew.

Lycanthropy

Keira was bitten by an unknown werewolf in her third year at Beauxbatons Academy.  
It was a habit of hers to go walking in the Pyrenees mountains which surrounded the school in the Summer months before the holidays. She often found ingredients for Potions there that were not easily brought, and the fresh mountain air brought her a sense of freedom.  
Keira knew that wolves roamed the mountains, but knew that genuine wolves have little reason to harm humans, and it was this mistake which nearly killed her.

Keira was found by an elderly man who lived as a hermit in the mountains. He treated the long scars down her back with a silver and dittany solution and was able to send note to the Headmistress at Beauxbatons. Keira remembers little of her experience after that. She knows she was transported home to England immediately to her family's devastation, and spent a week and a half at St Mungos.

She can retain her human mind during transformations due to a near constant supply of Wolfsbane potion that her brother Jason funds and Tobias makes for her.

She makes no secret of her lycanthropy at school, and though she has developed a vicious temper, little has changed. Students know better than to ask her about her monthly trips to the mountains, where (ever since she has been bitten) she looks for the werewolf who bit her.  
About a year ago, she found the hermit who had saved her, though he had been dead a couple of weeks from the harsh winter. Though this was upsetting for her, Keira has found a use for the hut he lived in, often waking up there the morning after her transformations- before returning to the school.

She hopes to pursue a career in Potions, either as a professional brewer, studying or inventing potions, or teaching potions as a subject at a wizarding school. She is also interested in the possibility of becoming a Healer.


	4. Post-Hogwarts Jay: Paper Chase

His office could easily be mistaken for a broom-closet if one didn't know better. By no means in terms of size, for the sleek expanse of the room was ridiculous, but because of the broomsticks displayed on the walls like trophies. Banishing or burning those old models, the ones people found in the attic, was in Jason Stonem's opinion the very height of foolishness. True, they moved slowly and listlessly, no match even for Jay's first broom- his grandfather's Bluebottle. But collectors paid a pretty galleon for the right antique brooms, especially Cleansweeps or Comets. Having the brooms that lined the walls on the sports lawyer's office appraised would have brought in an obscene amount of gold- enough to replace each broom on the wall with ten new Firebolts.  
But Jason didn't keep them for their flying use, and despite his wife refusing to set foot in his office 'on principle' and calling him an 'insufferable hoarder,' he kept them for their value, for their history.  
He owned the brooms of Valmai and Wilder- the best female players in the league in the 1920s. They were friends once, before Winda had slept with Ivan Vulchanov- the dashing Bulgarian National Team player, and Valmai's husband at the time. That was before Wilda had abandoned the Harpes for Puddlemere, where she'd flown miserably and subsequently committed suicide. Before Vulchanov- in retaliation- had beaten his ex-wife Valmai to death with her own broom.  
The broom now displayed on Jason's wall.

He glanced at it fondly that evening, as he paced the large room which overlooked E14. The London skyline was lit up with Christmas lights which made him sigh. Working on Christmas Eve was something he swore he'd never do- something he'd promised Clara. Yet here he was, as suited and stern faced as every other day of the year. He took three long, sloping steps towards his chair and sat- staring blankly at the quick notes quill poised and ready to write the statement.  
For a moment he considered what his home looked like, what his wife and children would be doing, and he considered his earliest memory of Christmas. It involved him running to the lawn, his new broom in his hand and a trail of wrapping paper in his wake, demanding that the entire household came and played Quidditch with him.  
It was the first time he saw his older brother smile in a way that was genuine, before Tobias had sat crossed legged on a blanket he had brought out with him. Tobias had known he would never be allowed to play- or to be near something as dangerous as a broomstick. He had simply watched Jay squealing with delight while their parents took up the rather more arduous task of restraining Keira, who wanted to play but was too young, and refereeing the match being played between Jason and the legions of house elves who had been summoned.

That wasn't to say that Tobias was any less enthusiastic from the side-lines and about half way through the match he and their father had ended up arguing about whether Jay had committed a foul or not when he had momentarily grabbed a handle of one of the house elves' brooms to stop himself from falling.  
Of course, in his rage, Tobias had caused a house elf to fly into a tree using only his power of will, after which the game had to be abandoned. The rest of the memory was now very hazy, but Jason remembered his father's cool reserve all gone in a moment as he locked Tobias in a body-binding curse and dragged him back into Stonem manor, shouting merry hell about how they should have left the oldest Stonem sibling in Mungos for Christmas and that he would be straight back in the morning.

The quick notes quill dropped to the page, assuming redundancy, causing Jason to clear his throat and stir it back to life.

"Memo from the office of Jason Lucas Stonem, Founding Partner at Stonem and Chang law firm, Canary Wharf to the office of Barnabus Cuffe, Editor of the Daily Prophet, Diagon Alley. Status:" he sighed, scratching his chin and shaking his head before lying through his teeth, "Status: confidential, priority.

I don't think it necessary to inform you RE: Mr Malfoy's autobiography, or the expected public response. I trust you have already done what is necessary to protect my client. Please have your office send me a copy of the official statement for release to the press. The Potter family will compensate you for your troubles. I am sorry that it should come to this.

It is with a heavy heart that my client, Ginevra Molly Potter resigns from her position of Senior Quidditch correspondent at your company, The Daily Prophet following the accusations made by former Death Eater Draco Malfoy about her, quote, promoting suspicions about Death Eaters, end quote in her articles. There are those who will take this resignation as incontrovertible proof of her guilt and to them there is nothing to be said. Mrs Potter wishes the following to the published in the Prophet to assuage her own conscience, as well as for the future of the sport.

Is Mrs Potter still suspicious of Death Eater activity? That is undoubtedly the question preying on everyone's minds as they read Mr Malfoy's book. Let me turn the question on its head- are there any of us who do not still suspect Death Eater activity? Let me assure you that every statement Mrs Potter has only ever been sport related. If you were to ask my client if she would phrase any of her articles differently then she would not.  
Her resignation has been long overdue. She feels Mr Malfoy's autobiography release has served as the opportune time. She is an upstanding woman, with an acute understanding of international sporting politics and has always represented the interests of the player and their fans. She is quote, sick and bloody tired, end quote of being in the public eye and wishes to focus on her family.

I trust that you will take appropriate action and respond-"

He wasn't sure if it was the spiel of nonsense coming from his mouth, or the clock in the office chiming nine o'clock that made him stop. Bed time. Issac and Isabelle would be fighting their sleepiness with excitement. Issac no doubt would have bargained an extra half-hour because 'he was the eldest' and Isabelle would have insisted on staying awake, refusing to put out snacks for Santa Claus because 'Daddy promised he'd be home.'

They both stared at him adoringly from the photograph on his desk. Watching how the animated pair waved at the camera and how his wife's blonde hair blew across her face in the wind, Jay stood up suddenly. Fuck. This.  
He'd been ecstatic when he'd poached Ginny as a client, back when she played for the Harpies. Now, her and her husband- who acted like he hated the press, but had specifically requested (only hours ago) his wife's resignation be in the Christmas edition of the Prophet, could both go to hell.  
He let the quill drop again and strode to the fireplace, taking a fistful of Floo-powder he stepped into the fireplace and let it take him where he belonged.


	5. Hogwarts Jay: Arrival

Bat swinging in his left hand like it was an extension of his body, Jay squinted up at the form of Rubeus Hagrid carrying his trunk, unable to help a small chuckle bubbling from his lips. The Hogwarts Gamekeeper had offered to carry Jay's broom too, but the Stonem boy had insisted on carrying it himself- unable to bear the thought of someone else touching his most prized possession. Slung over his shoulder, the custom-made Comet 370 was the one thing that Jason treasured most in life, only comparable to the way that one might love their first child.  
The Prophet had declared his transfer to England that morning, and the preparations had been made for him to settle into his new school before a training session was to occur the following day.  
The International Quidditch Association were to be there, in addition to his new coach, and the press of course- an entire host of witches and wizards were to gather on the Hogwarts pitch the next day to see him beat around a few bludgers. Mostly, he knew, it was to prove their money had not been a colossal waste of galleons and time- particularly since the World Cup was approaching.

He glanced up at the castle, which was bigger than Durmstrang Institute but didn't look all that homely. It was dark out, and the castle was lit up rather prettily. He could see students gathering already at the entrances and windows witnessing his arrival in an act of awe which his new head of house Severus Snape had assured him would calm down after they'd gotten used to the presence of a new celebrity.

Jay's long, black robes grazed his ankles as he walked with his back straight, taking a deep breath as they neared the entrance to the school and his gold-flecked eyes glanced over the goose-like gander of female students all excitedly trying to get a glimpse of him.  
"Don't worry Stonem," Hagrid boomed down at him with a grin that set Jay immediately at ease, "This happens every time I come up to the castle!"

The crowd at the doors parted like the red sea as a blonde girl swept through. She stopped in front of them and Jay's eyes had to adjust from the entrance hall light but once they did he almost dropped his bat. It wasn't like he'd never seen a beautiful girl before, the Swedish girls who attended Durmstrang were all gorgeous but the one in front of him was perhaps the most perfect person he had ever seen.  
As she insisted that as Slytherin prefect she would be the one to help him find the Common Room, his mouth dropped a little- and he tried to regain his composure. Hagrid, with a shrug, placed Jason's trunk at the girl's feet and shuffled off, wishing him all the best.

"...And you are?" she asked, tapping her heeled foot impatiently.  
A small smile flitted across his features as he wondered if she really had no idea who he was.  
"You don't read the Prophet then, I take it?" he chuckled, pulling his eyes away from her face and glancing up at the crowd of students which was growing by the minute, in addition to those fogging up the windows. "I suppose they put on a fan-fare like this for every new student?" he added, before tucking his bat under his right arm and extending his hand to the girl. "I'm Jay," he smiled, careful not to bring his broom too close to her as he waited for her to either shake his hand or swat it away, he wasn't sure which.

"Clara Page," she replied slowly, reaching out to shake his hand once before letting it drop, "charmed."  
She stared at him with an intensity that made him uncomfortable, before glancing over her shoulder with a look of surprise like she had only just noticed the hordes of students behind her, "Oh, ignore them, they do this all the time."

Jay grinned cheekily at her reply, and before an awkward silence could fall between them, she took off. Clearly expecting him to follow, Jay shook his head and rearranged his bat and broom to reach into his expensive robes and grab his wand. "Wingardium Leviosa," he said under his breath, causing his trunk to lift itself into the air. He moved quickly after her, through the part in the crowd which she had left, his trunk floating expertly behind him.

"So, Clara Page," he drawled his mind turning her name over and over as though he were eating a toffee. His long gait caught up with her tiny stature quite easily, "I didn't realise that I was getting a guided tour, not that I'm complaining."  
He briefly wondered if all the girls at Hogwarts were like this one, and let his eyes leave her frame momentarily as he glanced at the other students lining the corridors. From what he saw, he doubted it.

As if she had noticed that his eyes were no longer upon him, she turned and pulled the beater's bat out of his right hand, slipping her own arm around his and falling into step with him.  
"Guided tour?" she repeated, raising an eyebrow and frowning. Staring up at him with icy blue orbs his focus was one hundred percent on her again and he barely heard her as she tutted, "Absolutely not. I'm to show you to the common room and after that I doubt we'll ever speak again."  
She smiled an impossible smile and laughed tunefully, swinging his bat in a rather vicious fashion despite the angelic look on her face. He was elated to be walking arm in arm with her as they descended towards what looked like a dirty old basement, but wasn't quite quick enough to stop the flash of disappointment appearing on his face.  
He turned to look at the wall in an attempt to hide it, as this happened (seemingly in slow motion for the mortified Stonem boy) his broomstick also lowered, knocking Clara on the back of her head. She was torn from his arm, and though it wasn't a violent motion, it was enough to send her forwards and off balance so that she stumbled in a less than graceful way. Despite being horrified that he'd hit a girl, albeit indirectly, and an accident, Jay couldn't stop a small laugh from erupting from his lips. Clara seemed so controlled and calculated in every gorgeous movement she made, and to see her jolt forward suddenly had struck Jay as quite humorous.

Since he did not know her at all, Jay tried to conceal his laughter, reaching out to grab her by the scruff of her robes to keep her steady. He recoiled his hand as soon as he had touched her, a scolding sensation which was incredibly peculiar to him searing through his hand. It was lucky this happened, for if he had kept hold a second longer he would've been hit by the bat she had just taken a swing with.  
"What do you think you're playing at?" she snapped at him, her angelic face transforming into the most terrifying scowl. He had before never been looked at with such pure, undiluted distaste.  
"Are you ok?" he stammered quickly, "I'm sorry about that, I can't imagine that I'm making the best first impression on you..."  
"I'm perfect," she replied, her face returning to a blank slate and her voice now a careless drawl, "just bored."  
With a smile that did not reach her eyes in the slightest, she dropped his bat to the ground with a dull thud, and brushed past him, back up the corridor.  
"Common room's down there," she sang over her shoulder before her heels stopped with a tap on the stone floor and she turned to face him.  
"You will never make any sort of impression on me Stonem," she stated with a flick of her blonde hair, "so stay away from me." And with that she was gone, the clicking of her heels ringing echoes until they faded completely.

With a sigh, Jay swooped down and picked up his bat, hoping that she hadn't scuffed it too much and that the next point of contact with her wasn't an invoice for a new one. He looked once at his trunk, which had come to a pause, hovering in the air as unsure as Jay where it should be going, before turning and continuing down the corridor- hoping to find the Common Room. As he walked a small smile floated onto his features as he realised he had never actually introduced himself to Clara as Jay _Stonem_ , and that she must have known who he was all along.

* * *

That evening, settled and having been introduced to the Slytherin Quidditch team, Jay found himself feeling relaxed for the first time that day. The Common Room was lively and full of students who had taken full advantage of dinner. Jay had found people to sit with in the Great Hall for the meal, and though there had been a slight commotion as he had entered, it had passed quickly. As he had passed by Clara Page to take a seat he had heard her friends whisper "That's Jay Stonem," and her quick and disinterested reply of "Who?"

He felt that he had probably best take her advice and not even attempt to try with her, she was that far out of his league. While he had avoided her for the rest of the evening, he had managed to meet her cousin. Owen Page, the other beater for the Slytherin team as well as its captain, and himself were going to be spending a lot of time together by the looks of things.  
After dinner, in the common room, he was quite happy to sit by the fire and listen to Owen's anecdotes and laugh at his jokes. After all, from the current position he was sat in he had a perfect view of the Page he was the most interested in. This interest, it seemed, was in no way reciprocated. Whenever he looked at her, she seemed fully absorbed in her magazine, and unlike the rest of the girls in her friendship group, did not have the slightest concern for him. Watching as she became involved in some boisterous episode that involved one of her friends kicking her, Owen coughed and pulled Jay's attention away. His new captain shot him a strange look, and Jay let out a nervous laugh before apologising.  
"Sorry," he nodded, "you were saying?"  
Owen rolled his eyes and rose to his feet, "You've got a big day tomorrow Jay, better get to bed." This was obviously intended more of an order than a suggestion, as Owen had already told him that if he wasn't impressed by Jay's performance tomorrow then he'd have no problems booting him off the team.  
Jay nodded and muttered, "I'll be up in a second."

He sat and looked into the fire, trying so very hard not to look at her again but he couldn't help it.  
It wasn't his fault, he convinced himself, his attention was just drawn to things happening in the periphery. It was instilled in him as a quidditch player to pay attention to things that were not right in front of him. Especially pretty blonde things.  
What he found more frustrating however, and what he wondered to himself as he slipped upstairs to his dorm (eyes glued to the floor), was what on earth was the point in being an International Quidditch phenomenon, if he couldn't even impress Clara Page?

* * *

 **This story features Clara Page, an OC by allybz.**  
 **Their interaction was originally a RP on tumblr, so some of the words are hers :)**


	6. Tobias: A Question of Freedom

If he moved his head all the way up against the wall and tilted it to the left, he could just see the edge of the sky through the bars. Just a sliver of navy blue which told him the sun had been down a few hours now, and the birds had gone to sleep. Someone had given him a bird once, someone with black hair and black eyes. Funny how he couldn't remember face, though. All that part was hazy, his memory of the person wrapped in smoke but for the eyes and the hair.

When they found him all Tobias could do was laugh, over and over. They said he was mad and he knew he was mad, deep down, completely, but the powders they gave him made the world all muzzy and sideways. If he didn't get them regularly though, he could get agitated. If he got agitated he might howl for hours, or beat his hands against the wall until they were bloody, or generally raise merry hell until the Dementors flocked and he passed out cold.  
At least they didn't try to inject him with anything anymore- the injections had made him wild, wilder than before.

Everything had happened just as he'd told himself it would. He had told the nurse she looked hungry, and she was- just like that- ravenously hungry. Told her she needed to make dinner, with her friends- she should go and get them, which she did- immediately. Then they were hungry too, _starving_ like they hadn't eaten for weeks and all the time repeating that they needed to make dinner.  
First though, he needed to go for a walk, he needed the fresh air. _Of course he did, poor sausage.._ and then they'd thought of food again and quickened their efforts. They ushered him out of the hospital- and he didn't think he would ever have to go back.  
But they brought him back.  
Three months later they pulled him from under a transporter lorry on the Irish coast, covered in dirt, babbling about a guinea pig and tasting blood that was not his. They stunned him and immediately apparated him to St Mungo's institution.  
"Strip," a hazed and muffled voice instructed him when he came around, and he had tried to form some sense of cohesive and conscious thought. They had injected him with something, a muggle concoction and then there had been a lot of noise, punching and kicking and yelling. There had been the crunch of bone, the angry curse of a Auror.  
His clothes were removed and placed into clear plastic bags, and a Healer came in. His hearing adjusted so that he could hear and feel every sound in the hospital. The sound of sobbing, and the the loudest, stiffest silence he had ever heard.  
It was only when he considered the Healer's eyes and saw nothing but blackness that his one shot as escape had been destroyed, he was going to Azkaban now.

His hand went without thought to his jaw, touched the long thick scar that followed the line of bone from his chin right up to his earlobe. His face had been flayed open when they brought him in, his record stated, and they couldn't explain how or why but Tobias knew- Aurors could be brutal if they needed to be.  
His father said it was his own fault, that if he'd stayed in St Mungos like he was supposed to, then he would never have been sent to this place. There was a reason why he was in St Mungo's High Risk wing- the outside world wasn't for people like him, he was like the filth you threw away and ignored. Azkaban was on the outside world through, so his father was wrong, he did belong there. Inside but outside, outside but in, ha ha.

He went cold and immediately closed his eyes, pulling his eyes away from the sky and curling his body into a ball. He focused hard as a dark and floating object drifted by the side of his cell and paused, turning towards him.  
If he concentrated, in his head he was in a prison. Not Azkaban, but equally as dark and deep and empty- a well on the grounds of Stonem manor. He was five.

 _He would should not have disobeyed her, oh no he should not have. The bird wasn't for friends, it was for practicing.  
Kill it! A female voice hissed and Tobias' whole body shook as she bore into him with her black eyes. You know you want to!  
But he hadn't wanted to kill the bird, he liked it! He let it fly around his room and didn't even mind when it shit all over his bedcovers.  
He should have killed it. Now, sat at the bottom of well with the dead bird he picked it up and nursed it in his hands and he felt a tear fall down his small face._

The floating shape of the Dementor passed, satisfied there was no laughter now, no joy for it to suck out of him.  
Tobias was able to recreate scenarios in his head so vivid that he forgot where he really was.  
But he had to be clever. The memories had to be dark and joy-less, so the Dementor wouldn't stay.

He didn't remember the last time he'd had a visitor. A man with a beard used to visit him, a kind man, but he didn't visit anymore. He remembered what the man had told him, that he might be able to get him out.  
As he remembered this he was sure to keep his thoughts fact like- no hope, no promise, no Dementors. The days all ran together in here, no magic, no books to read, no things to do. He had once considered exercising so that he would be fit when he got out but somewhere in his heart he knew he would never get out. He was a broken thing, and the outside world did not like broken things.

That man with the long beard had asked him questions like "Why are you here?"  
"I killed a lot of people," he had nodded, "with an axe."  
The man had seemed intrigued, Tobias didn't understand why, "What do you remember?"  
"I don't remember anything," Tobias had answered again, his voice hard, "It's like there's a haze over my eyes, black smoke filling everything up. I remember the weight of the axe in my hand, and the hot blood on my face, in my mouth. I remember the sound of the blade in soft flesh."  
"But you didn't have an axe Tobias," Dumbledore had told him softly, "you used magic with your mind."

His words were like knotted fist to his gut, all the breath had left him for a moment. But they were true words and he could not pretend otherwise. The truth was all he had left.

He went to sleep with the memories of the bearded man, and dreamed of blood.  
 _Blood on his hands and under his bare feet, blood in his mouth and pouring from his eyes. The room was filled with it, and he stood in the middle like a hideous shadow, something flashing silver in his hand._  
 _Suddenly someone else appeared in the room, a man who looked like Tobias but with only half a nose. The man ran at him but before he could get any further than a step Tobias was upon him. He punched the man in the face hard with his left hand, twice, three times before he kicked him to the ground. Finally, he brought his axe down into the man's skull._  
 _He walked across the bloodied room to a mirror and nodded in satisfaction, "You were the one who bit half his nose off. He was coming back to make sure you couldn't get out. Don't you see? He would never have let you leave…"_


	7. Keira: Correspondence (1st Year)

_Dear Tobias,_

 _Firstly, I want to let you know that I have always tried to write to you. All my life I knew I had two brothers, but felt like I only had one. Daddy always said that that you did not want any news from me.  
If I do not get a reply from you this time, then I will know that was true, but I am hoping that now you are free I can learn more about you, and that you might want to know about me.  
I am 11 years and 1 month old and I go to Beauxbatons Academy in France.  
I have read in the paper that you have been allowed to attend school in England with Jason. I think a lot of people are angry about this, but it makes me happy._

 _Please tell me all about it.  
Your sister,  
Keira_

 **Dear Sister,**

 **No words can explain the joy I felt at receiving your letter. Many unexpected and positive things have been happening to me recently, but being able to write to you is the best of them all.  
Please believe that I have always wanted news from you, but I understand why Father would want to keep you from writing to me. I have a feeling now that he would not approve of us sending letters, but since you say you are 11 years and 1 month old I believe that you can make your own decisions, you are practically a grown up.**

 **What you have read is correct, I have been allowed to attend Hogwarts with Jason. The school is very big and impressive, though not as big and impressive as Beauxbatons I am sure!  
The lessons are very interesting and the teachers are very strict. I have been spending a lot of time with Jason, and watching him play quidditch. Don't tell him I said this to you but I find the game quite dull! Do you like to fly?**

 **Please let me know what it is you wish to learn about me. My past is a rather boring and colourless story if I am honest, and I am not sure how much you know of it. I am hoping that one day we can sit together and I can explain things to you properly.  
For now, if there is anything specific you want to know, you can just ask. I will always be honest with you.**

 **Always yours,  
Tobias**

 _Dearest Brother,_

 _I cried when I got your letter.  
It was very embarrassing at the breakfast table and all my friends were being very nosy and asking what was wrong. I took your letter down to the stables where they keep the horses and read it there. I think I prefer horses to people, even though they smell sometimes they are much easier to talk to._

 _I have decided that I don't care what Daddy thinks of us writing to each other. I used to send letters with Jason to the hospital when I was little, but Daddy would always bring them home and burn them in the fire. I will never forgive him for doing that._

 _I wish I could see Hogwarts! Do you think you could take a photograph so that I can see it? My teachers are strict too, especially when I don't speak in French._  
 _I am glad that Jason is spending time with you, even if some of it is when he is playing quidditch. Don't worry I won't tell him what you said… I think quidditch is boring too! I'm not very good at it, my flying professor always shouts at me during lessons and calls me ENFANT MALADROIT because I usually fall off the broomstick._

 _Here are some things I would like to know from you._

 _1._ _What is your favourite lesson at school?_

 _2._ _What is your favourite animal?_

 _3._ _Do you think that we will see each other at Christmas?_

 _Please write back soon and don't forget the photograph!_

 _Love from Keira._


	8. Family Archive: Jay WW Interview

**For England, the arrival of a new Beater for their Quidditch team has come just when it's needed. For Jason Stonem 'the whole thing's taking place without me in it. It's the only thing I've done in my life when I haven't thought about it.'  
Really? 'Sure,' he tells me, his wholesome face softly creasing into a relaxed smile and his golden-brown eyes alive, his delivery rapid. 'Definitely. Quidditch has always been an enormous part of my life and it's always been quite personal. I feel now that everything is public and it's on fast forward. Signing contracts, organising the transfer of schools, meeting the team, press releases. There's a journey here and it's not mine- I'm just going along with it.'**

 **Having trained with the team three times now, and his first match last Saturday- a friendly against Scotland bringing in a record crowd, WW sat with England's new hotshot Beater Jason Stonem to find out exactly how he feels.**

 **It must be amazing?  
** Yes, it's very strange being a part of something so popular. Being part of team that is so beloved, and has such high expectations from the public… it's a very difficult thing to try and slot into. So when people respond, in mass, in such a positive way, you have to enjoy that.

 **And you've recently been nominated for the International Quidditch Association's Best Newcomer?  
** It's lovely, and very nice, and confusing, it's just a very nice strange thing.'  
 **  
** **Does he have a speech prepared?  
** Absolutely not. I'm not going to win! I haven't given it too much thought. At the moment I'm just very excited to be a part of a group of people who are so fantastically talented and to be considered to be in the same category as them is celebration enough.

 **So it's a dream come true then, to play for your country? To be seen on a broom my millions of fans around the world?  
** Yeah, it's wonderful in theory isn't it? You obviously think, this is the dream- it's going to be great. But in practice it's a great deal of hard work and pressure…. But wonderful, yeah it's really an incredible honour.

 **And have you been in contact with Dawn Withey who has had such a long and successful career as a Beater for England, and who you are in effect replacing? Are you friends with her, have you met her?**

I've never met her, um. She sent me a lovely message through a mutual friend and he gave me her support. And it meant a great deal, and- of course, because, you know part of the reason why I love Quidditch is because of Beaters like her. When I've seen England matches in the past, she's the one I was always watching and to step into her shoes is no mean feat. It was very generous of Dawn to contact me, so I'm very thankful.

 **Currently heralded as 'Boy Wonder,' there was a time at Durmstrang when you were known as 'Boy Bonkers,' can you tell us more about that time?  
** Did Viktor Krum tell you that? **[He laughs]** I suppose I was a bit bonkers at that time. Especially after Viktor became so successful. It really spurred me on to do the same.  
I would train, obsessively, crazily. I would have our coach to conjure up more and more rigorous regimes so that I could always be the one on the team who would do the best in the horrifically demanding physical tests we underwent.

 **And you did muggle sports too?  
** Yes, the team crucified me at first, they thought I was insane. A lot of muggle sport requires the same if not more physical demand than Quidditch so I made sure that I was incorporating that into my training. If practice started at seven am then I would be out on the lake at six, rowing.

 **For those of us with no idea, rowing is a muggle sport performed on a small boat- the rower uses his arms to move 'oars' to propel the boat across the water. Stonem's school trend has caught on…**

I believe they all do it now, especially the Beaters. It builds so much muscle and is great for relieving stress. I was always quite wary of water, but being out on the lake- when it wasn't frozen of course- is a great thing.

 **Coming back to your friendship with Viktor Krum, do you think there is a reason that so many great Quidditch players have come out of Durmstrang School recently? Is Quidditch the main reason for your friendship?  
** I don't know, maybe it was something in the tap water there?  
Quidditch was a large part of it, yes. We bonded over flying from our first day. We shared a dorm for almost six years. We would sit around for hours, frequently miss our evening meals discussing strategy and how my influence as a Beater could help him as a Seeker.  
We constantly made each other better players. We both come alive on broomsticks, we both want to win more than anything.  
We both have something to prove out on the pitch that neither of us can explain, and with each other we've never needed to. It's just a mutual understanding.

 **Unfortunately, with a busy schedule that's all we had time for. We're sure that England vs Bulgaria is a match a lot of people would like to see!**


	9. Tobias: Compulsive

If Tobias didn't already stand as rigid as a statue, he was quite sure the look on the Slytherin Prefect's face would have turned him to stone.  
"This is _not negotiable_ Sterndale," warned Severus Snape, a man who extruded boredom and arrogance. A man who had been tasked with collecting Tobias from Azkaban, escorting him to Diagon Alley and then to Hogwarts. A man who was now his Head of House.  
Watching the Prefect pack up the last of his belongings and vacate the singular dormitory in the Slytherin Dungeons was not something Tobias had wished to be present for, but it was a necessary evil.  
Snape had told him that almost two hundred Howlers had been sent to the school, angry parents protesting that they didn't want their babies anywhere near Tobias Stonem, so a singular dormitory would be assigned to him. He knew his admittance to Hogwarts had been met with distain, hundreds of parents threatening to withdraw their precious angels from the school. Letters had filled a whole feature of Witch Weekly, a publication which had branded him a lunatic and a merciless killer while simultaneously running a feature on his brother winning another International Quidditch Association award. It was all rather pathetic. He hadn't realised that would mean a Prefect would lose his privileges, shame.

After Sterndale had vacated, Snape had nodded once at Tobias and drawled, "Your brother will collect you in the morning," before promptly leaving, as though he could not stand another second around Tobias.  
He knew that Snape hadn't volunteered for the job of babysitter, he had told him so himself. The groundskeeper- who usually collected knew students had point blank refused, though Snape hadn't told him whether it was because he didn't want to go to Azkaban or he didn't want to be alone with Tobias.  
With two steps of his long stride he entered the room and sat on the mattress. It was comfortable, but he knew it would be a waste. He stood again, before reaching over and closing the door. He changed quickly, and settled down on the bed- tossing the pillow onto the floor and placing his hands behind his head.

Tobias had not been able to sleep since leaving Azkaban. Strangely, he had grown used to sleeping on stone floors without sheets or feather pillows.  
After three hours of staring at the ceiling, he moved his thin mattress to the floor and lay down on it, letting his eye-lids close over his silver flecked blue eyes, but it was to no avail and he didn't sleep at all that first night. He lay awake, unable to rest and unable to dream. Probably for the best, he reasoned, because his dreams often resulted in screams and furniture breaking.

Even after spending the day with Jason, touring the grounds and taking everything about his new home in the second night was no better. He had to enchant his bedroom so that the temperature was at freezing and a wind hissed through the small, singular dormitory in the Slytherin dungeons. Luckily, due to the Black Lake, the room was near pitch black anyway.  
Even after scrapping his mattress and pillows altogether, and making the conditions of his room as close to those of his cell in Azkaban without bringing a Dementor in, Tobias could still not get a good night's rest.

He began to walk the corridors at night. Something which was strictly forbidden, but even the school caretaker and his ghastly cat didn't bother him.  
"What do you think you're doing out of bed?" Argus Filch had hissed at him one night in the darkness.  
"I'm just walking, I can't sleep," Tobias had replied, his voice lazy and sleep-deprived, "I won't leave the castle."  
Tobias had brushed past him like he was a ghost, knowing there was nothing the man could do. Toby could smell magic a mile away and there was nothing about this man that was in the slightest way exceptional. After that he was sure that the Squib had gone straight to Dumbledore to protest, but at least he left him alone.

The only company Toby had in the early hours of the morning had been a poltergeist. He'd screamed his little head off at first, and early woken up the House Elves in the kitchen, but Toby had silenced him quickly without wand or words. The tiny ghost man was never any trouble to him after that, but sometimes followed him on his nightly walks, sometimes muttering things like, "You won't find anything to slaughter in there…." Or "Why so quiet Stonem? Dementors got your tongue?"  
Hesitating once, in front of an eagle knocker on the west side of Hogwarts at the top of a spiral staircase, Peeves had warned Tobias that "You'll never get in there Stoney… Ravenclaw's are too smart for you." Realising it was the Ravenclaw Common room, Tobias had walked away and not returned. There was no knowledge in that Common room that was of any use to him anyway.

One night, Tobias had entered the library. The restricted section had peaked his interest and getting in was easy enough. There were enough books in there to keep him occupied for weeks. Access to so much information had made Tobias like an addict. The thirst for knowledge which he had been denied for practically all his young life could not be satisfied, and was all that kept him going during the daylight hours.  
It even allowed him to tolerate the useless information the Professor's lectured him about in lessons, as if he didn't know how to produce a Vanishing Spell or brew a Forgetfulness Potion. Knowing that each evening he could escape to the library and delve into all the wizarding history and information he could ever wish for, that was what kept him from snapping Professor Sprout's neck and throwing her to her own patch of Chinese Chomping Cabbages.

The Stonem boy curled his body up into a large armchair by a window that over-looked the grounds, which he had to admit were outstandingly beautiful. He poured over an old copy The Art of Occulumency. The thin fingertips of the eldest Stonem played with the binding which was coming loose.  
His interest had been peaked by a section of the book which mentioned how blocking one's mind to another's influence was invaluable. He recalled a branch of magic he had heard of once which enabled the witch or wizard who cast it to enter the body of another human being. He imagined the possibilities of being able to take over someone else's body, the things he could get away with and the needs he could sate that he would never be blamed for. His eyes fell closed, thoughts and the words on the page blurring as he fell into a deep sleep.

 ** _Still in the library, Tobias looked up from his chair, momentarily by a short Hufflepuff girl.  
The girl was nervous, he could smell it on her. She knew who he was naturally. Whether he was more famous for being Jason Stonem's brother, or for being a psychotic murderer it was not really known, and not for Toby to say. The Hufflepuff practically ran past him on her way out of the library, stumbling on the way. As she got closer, he judged her to be fourteen, possibly fifteen, and fairly weak willed. He had no doubt that under the right conditions he would be able to take over her mind but before he could properly relish the thought of doing so and having her play around in her own blood- she was gone. _**

**_Footsteps echoed around the library, a recognisable stomp, and a tall woman strolled up to him. Pale skin, striking green eyes and a smile which could literally kill.  
"Hello old friend," she stated, standing in front of him with her arms cross over her chest._**

 ** _Looking up from under his long lashes, Tobias raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow and shot her a tantalising grin.  
A prominent figure from his past, through his teenage years, Tobias knew Felice Crowley as a fragment of his twisted imagination. Everything about Felice calmed him, and not for good reasons. Tobias was his most lethal self when he was calm and collected. When his brain was ticking over, dispelling bad thoughts and reminding him constantly that he was ill and trying to recover from a psychosis- that was when Tobias was most docile. It was when his brain cleared and he allowed the darkness to overwhelm him that things usually took a turn for the worst. Felice's natural aura was dark and deadly, and to Tobias it was like a drug._**

 ** _The first time he had laid eyes on her he had been around thirteen years old, after he had first been admitted to St Mungos. She was a demon, and she had sat and spoken to him, calming him, convincing him that he was not ill- mentally or otherwise. He spoke about her sometimes to the nurses and Healers, but nobody believed him. She had been his invisible friend as a child, one who had encouraged him to do dangerous and deadly stunts, and to push his magic further.  
She had been with him during his escape in his late teens, and together they had wreaked havoc all over the country for three glorious months._**

 ** _Of course, some time in an Azkaban cell had taught him better. He had heard the whispers in the walls, some from other inmates who (when not overcome with fright from the Dementors) had told about the demon who could travel back and forth from her home in hell. Some whispers had come from Felice herself, reassuring him- comforting him._**

 ** _"_** ** _I suppose I forgot all about you," he smirked, his voice teasing as he looked her up and down. "Old friend indeed, perhaps if you had paid me a visit in Azkaban occasionally I might have remembered you."_**

 ** _Feigning a shocked and rather unimpressed look on her face, Felice mocked a loud gasp to his response and settled herself down on the arm of his chair, looking down at him with a small smirk before she reached to stroke a hand through his brown unkempt hair gently before resting it on the back of his neck. Her skin was cold, but Tobias was drawn to her. She had always been able to coax evil out him like a snake-charmer, and it was somewhat of an aphrodisiac for them both.  
"Don't act like you didn't feel me in your cell with you. I was there," she murmured, causing the hairs to raise on the back of his neck. "I missed you terribly," she insisted, "before you were taken away we had such fun."_**

 ** _Her reminder of their time together committing crimes caused a coarse chuckle to fall from his lips. Everything about her intoxicated him, she had him hook, line and sinker and he couldn't really say he cared.  
"Why are you here? What do you want?" he replied, leaning forward like a dog whose master had a treat.  
Her grip suddenly tightened around the back of his neck which caused him to flinch in a way which was more pleasurable than painful, even more so when she sank down the armchair and into his lap._**

 ** _Tobias was a complicated man to say the least, but around Felice he had never felt anything but normal. She had always been there for him,_** ** _always appeared to patch him up when he'd fallen off the wagon, and to make him feel like what he deep down longed to do wasn't so horrible after all.  
So when she moved to connect their lips in a passionate kiss it was the most natural thing that could happen in that moment. His hands reached up to cup her face and his lips moved hungrily against hers._**

 ** _Moving in sync- as if they had been doing this for centuries together, she pulled his shirt open, running her hands along his chest as though she were ravenous and desperate for contact.  
"I missed you," she whispered, her lips trailing kisses across his jaw and up to his ear lobe, "you're my favourite."  
Every singular touch set his heart racing, her whispers caused a shiver to run down his spine and his hands dropped from her face, falling to her waist and pulling her impossibly closer.  
He had always been obsessed with her, addicted to her presence, it was just the first time he had ever acted upon it, and now that he had started he had no idea how to stop. _**

**_"_** ** _I'm here Tobias," she whispered again, and his grip tightened around her as he felt her being pulled away from him. "I'm here in the castle, come and find me."_**

Toby's eyes snapped open, he couldn't breathe and he tried to push himself up from the armchair he was slumped in but his arms were trembling with fear. Confusion flashed over his face, he was _shaking?_ Pushing past the anxiety and paralysis, he blinked and ran a hand over his forehead. He was covered in sweat, his shirt drenched and sticking to his body.  
The Occulumency book lay open on his lap as he had left it, and he couldn't help but feel like he was no longer alone in the library. His hands reached through his hair, pushing it away from his damp head and he stood up.  
Taking deep, gasping breaths he stood, placed the book back where he had found it and practically ran back to the dungeons- all the while unable to shake the memory of Felice.  
He never recalled his dreams, but this one was burned into his brain and he didn't know what to do with himself. He paced the length of his dorm thirteen times and then lay on the floor of his bedroom, breathing in and out slowly until the coldness left his body and he felt vaguely normal.  
"I'm here Tobias. I'm here in the castle. Come and find me." The words churned over and over in his mind, and he couldn't help but entertain the impossible thought that Felice could be real.

* * *

 **This story features Felice Crowley, an OC by joeypandaaa.**  
 **Their interaction was originally a RP on tumblr, so some words are hers :)**


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